Duplicate contract bridge board



June 12, 1934. R s DQRNEY r AL 1,962,710

DUPLICATE CONTRACT BRIDGE BOARD Filed June 4, 1932 Patented June 12, 1934 DUPLICATE CONTRACT BRIDGE BOARD Roland S. Dorney, East Texas, and Frank Rodgers Neely, Allentown, Pa., assignors to A. H. Balliet Corporation, Allentown, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Applicaticn June 4, 1932, Serial No. 615,280

3 Claims.

Our invention relates to a duplicate contract bridge board.

The main purpose of our invention is to construct an improved bridge board of much smaller size than previously has been constructed.

A further purpose is to provide a flat bridge board of approximately rectangular shape, with an opening in its sides into which playing cards are stored, the cards projecting outwardly of the sides of the board, adapting the cards to easy removal.

A further purpose is to form an extending card supporting ledge below an opening in the edge of a contract bridge board.

A further purpose is to construct a contract bridge board having interfitting compartments for the playing cards which are inserted into openings in the sides of the board.

A further purpose is to construct a contract 7 bridge board having upper and lower solid cover portions, and with connecting partitions between the covers, the partitions acting both as strengtheners for the box structure and as stops for the ends of the playing cards when inserted in the board.

A further purpose is to use both the ends and the sides of partitions in a bridge board as stops for the ends of the playing cards.

A further purpose is to provide a contract bridge board of simple construction, neat in appearance and easily produced, that will occupy minimum space on a table, thereby allowing full space on the table for cards in play, particularly for the dummy hand.

Referring to the drawing:-

We have preferred to illustrate our invention by one form only, selecting a form which is practical and effective and which well illustrates the principles involved.

Figure 1 is a top plan view of our improved contract bridge board having playing cards in place in the board.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the structure seen in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional top plan view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Figure 3.

Figure '7 is a detached perspective View of the parts that make up the board of the previously mentioned figures.

Our invention comprises a board of unique design having separate compartments into which playing cards are held and but one-half the size of any bridge boards known to us. The small size of our board is of great advantage to players of bridge, as the board must remain in the center of the table during play. The use of large boards leaves the players correspondingly less room on the table.

Some of the boards on the market at the present time are so large that there is practically no space left on an ordinary card table to spread out the dummy hand.

The particular construction of our improved bridge board enables us to reduce its size and cheapen its construction, while at the same time supplying the need of players of duplicate contract bridge.

The boards are made up in sets and are numbered from 1 to 12 or 1 to 16, for example.

One deck of playing cards, consisting of four hands of 13 cards each, is dealt out and each hand is placed in a separate compartment. The same procedure is followed using successive decks and boards until the boards that comprise a series are filled up with cards.

When play begins, the players cut to see who shall be North, and thereafter in that series an arrow which is placed on each board always points to him as another board is placed on the table for continued play.

Instead of being played into tricks, the cards as played are placed in front of each of the various players, and after each hand are replaced into the boards as before. When the entire series, comprising a full set of boards, has been played, the two opponents cut the cards to see who shall be North on the second round; the whole set of boards is then played over again.

Our board 10 comprises a bottom 11 preferably of pulp board, such as chestnut board or chip board, or any other suitable material, including Wood. The bottom 11 is generally square but carries ledge extensions 12, 13, 14 and 15.

Upon each ledge extension 12, 13, 14 and 15 we glue covers 16 of any suitable finishing material, fitting the upper surface of the extension and having lateral flaps 1'7 and a longitudinally extending flap 18.

A portion 19 of each cover forward of the laterally extending fiaps 1'? is glued to the body of the bottom board inside the corresponding ledge extension. The lateral flaps 17 are then turned about the ledge extension and glued to the underside of the ledge. The corresponding longitudinal flap 18 is then bent downwardly and about the end of the ledge, over the previously fastened lateral flaps 17 and is glued to the underside of the bottom member 11, thereby holding the ledge cover in place about the ledge.

When the covers with their flaps have been glued to the ledge extensions, the next step in manufacture is to glue four guiding and spacing strips 20 to the upper surface of the bottom member 11. The strips 20 when set in place extend from each of the corners of the bottom 11 to approximately one side 21 of each of the ledges.

The strips 20 act as spacers and stiffeners and also form the outer walls of the compartments 22 into which the separate hands 23 of the playing cards fit.

On each side, of the approximate center of our board we glue two vertically disposed central guiding and spacing strips 24'and 25 which at their outer ends 26 and 27 abut and are flush with the strips 20. The inner ends 28 and 29 of the strips 24 and25 overlap one another.

As shown in Figure 3, the strips accomplish three objects: They add strength and rigidity to the completed board, and for this purpose are applied to the bottom 11 across the grain of the pulp board or wood. The sides of the central strips provide stops for the ends of the cards inserted horizontally in this figure. The overlapped ends of the strips provide stops for the cards inserted vertically of the figure. After the strips are all set in place upon the bottom 11, a top board 30 is glued to the upper faces 31 of the strips. Before, however,v the top board 30 is placed upon the blocks, we find it desirable to glue a covering 32 of any desirable material to the top board 30.

The covering 32 is applied to the top board 30 in a novel manner.

Flaps 33 are turned over the side edges 34 of the top board 30 and the flaps 33 which have been glued are then set in place against the underside 35 of the top board 36. It will be noted that the covering 32 is now permanently secured to the top board 30.

The top board with its covering is then applied by gluing'it to the strips 20, 24 and 25.

At the present stage of the application of the top board to the strips and bottom board structure, flaps 36 are turned downwardly about the edges 34 of the top board, 37 of the strip and 38 of the bottom board and beneath the bottom board, to which the flaps 33 are glued. Additional flaps 39 are provided integral with the covering 30, at the corners 40 to cover the ends 41 of strips 20. These flaps 39 are also bent downwardly over the edges 34, 3'7 and 38 of the top board, strip and bottom board.

The top covering material is cut out at its corners at 42 in order to properly fit the corners of the top and bottom boards and the strips. This cut out is clearly shown in Figure 7.

.We have found that the parts can be held together without gluing the top cover to the strips as the covering material with its overlapping flaps which surrounds the edges of the top board and bottom board will hold the members in place. It is desirable, however, to add the additional glue between the top surfaces of the strips and the bottom surfaces of the top board to give additional rigidity. 7

After the covering, material has been turned the bottom cover 43 over the bottom board to add finish to the bottom surface of the board proper.

The ledge extensions 11, 12, 13 and 14 are slightly less in width than the width of the playing cards that are to be inserted in the holder as is clearly shown at as in Figure 3. This will permit grasping of the cards at their side edges without touching the ledge and will allow for easy Withdrawal of the cards from the compartment into which they have previously been inserted.

The ledges extending outwardly serve as a guide for inserting the cards into the board. They also protect the cards from injury while they are in place. y

We have found that a great advantage gained by our invention is the small space needed for storage of these boards when not in use.

It will be apparent that there is practically no waste space whatever in our board. The playing cards take up practically all of the space within the compartments and the device itself provides a most convenient arrangement for keeping a number of hands separated until it is desirable to use them again, as is the case when duplicate contract bridge is played.

In view of our invention and disclosure variations and modifications to meet individual whim or particular need will doubtless become evident to others skilled in the art, to obtain part or all of the benefits of our invention without copying the structure shown, and we, therefore, claim all such in so far as they fall within the reasonable spirit and scope of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A holder for cards comprising upper and closed edge spaces about the perimeter and in-' terior guides and stops forming with the spacing means compartments for receipt of cards at right angles to each other, one having entrance to each opening in the edge of the holder and extensions from the bottom only of the holder narrower than the width of the cards and in line with the open edge portions of the holder.

3. A holder for divisions of cards for duplicate contract bridge comprising a top and a bottom member, spacers for the top and bottom ex tending from a corner of' each of the :top and bottom toward the middle of an adjoining 'side' and leaving an open space between it and the other corner of that side and the next spacer for the insertion of cards and extensions of the bot-' tom in line with the respective openings narrower than the width of the cards and located opposite the openings.

ROLAND S. DORNEY. F. RODGERS NEELY. 

